The CEO of the HSE has praised the "great progress" of the Covid-19 vaccination rollout in Ireland as he issued another update on the programme today.
Paul Reid said that more than 6.4m doses of the jab have been administered in Ireland to date.
This means that 82% of adults are now fully vaccinated, while 90% have received at least one dose.
He added that more than 47,000 children aged between 12 and 15 have received their first inoculation, while 100,000 in this cohort have signed up to be vaccinated.
The coronavirus vaccines will give us "a pathway to a brighter future", he said.
In a post on Twitter, Mr Reid said: "Now over 6.4M vaccines administered here with 82% of adults fully vaccinated and 90% partially.
"Continued great progress too on the 12-15-year-olds, with almost 100,000 registered and 47,000 administered.
"The vaccines are working & give us a pathway to a brighter future."
Meanwhile, data from the ECDC revealed that Ireland has the second biggest uptake of full vaccination among adults out of all the EU Member States.
Ireland, with an uptake of 80.7%, is just behind Malta, where the figure stands at 87.8%.
However, despite the high level of vaccination rates across the country, the Chief Medical Officer said that the Delta variant had allowed Covid-19 to regain a "foothold" in Ireland.
Dr Tony Holohan also urged people to practice caution as much as possible particularly in the run-up to schools reopening.
His comments came as a further 1,558 Covid-19 cases were confirmed on Monday.
Dr Holohan said: “Though we have growing levels of vaccination across the population, there is now a very high level of disease circulating in the community. The Delta variant has enabled Covid-19 to regain a foothold in Ireland, which puts us all at risk as social contacts and mobility increase. We are closely monitoring the spread of the virus with some concern.
"Vaccines will help us turn the tide, but we are not there yet. We need to give vaccines the time and space to build up levels of protection across all demographics so that we can continue to progress the re-opening of all sectors of society and our economy.
"Please get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine is offered to you. It is also very important that people receive their second dose of vaccine as soon as you are called to do so. You will be fully protected one or two weeks after your second dose, depending on which vaccine you have received."
He added: "I am asking people to be cautious and to closely follow public health advice over the coming weeks, in particular in the run-up to schools reopening in September.
"We all know what this means, and, more importantly, we know that by following the public health advice we can drive down incidence of Covid-19 in our communities."
